Ethiopian flag bearers Kidus Giorgis overcame Seychellois side Saint Michele United 3-0 in CAF Champions League preliminary round first leg encounter on Sunday in Addis Ababa Stadium.
Kidus Giorgis broke the deadlock in the 16th minute through veteran striker Adane Girma as he turned in a good ball from Ramkel Lok. The Horsemen eventually added a second goal as winger Behailu Assefa finished off coolly from Girma’s flick.
Despite having a 2 goals cushion Giorgis failed to replicate their first half fine form. St. Michel barely troubled the home side in the second. Nigerian import Godwin Chika Okawara sealed the win 10 minutes from time from a rebound. Second half substitute Chika was on his debut game after completing his switch to the Ethiopian champions back in January.
Kidus Giorgis coach Mart Nooij intimated the game was full of ups and downs.
“This game was very difficult for us because the opponent doesn’t want to play open football. They close with 8 or sometimes 9 players at the back. It’s very difficult to find openings in defenses of teams like that,” stated the Dutch man.
Nooij added, “I thought it was a game with ups and downs. Particularly the first part of second half was not good for us. That was because our boys were nervous and feared not to concede a goal from a counter attack. After we made offensive substitutions we scored a very important 3rd goal.”
St Michel United coach Andrew Jean-Louis conceded the defeat and hoped to reverse the score in the return leg.
“The game was difficult in terms of the altitude and the air. But I’m satisfied with the result because Giorgis deserved to win and they played better than us. We expect when they come to Seychelles, it will be a different result.”
Jean-Loius further stated “We have a few players in our club that played against the Ethiopian National team. We also had a few injured players making their way back into the team. So when Kidus Giorgis comes to Seychelles we will be at full strength. We expect to score in Seychelles. But we will not go all out to attack because Kidus Giorgis have a good team that can score on the counter. We will field a completely different team in the return leg when our injured players return to fitness.”
Kidus Giorgis takes a comfortable 3-0 lead to Seychelles for the return leg in two weeks’ time. The two sides will battle it out in Seychelles after two weeks to set TP Mazembe date.
